Andrew.C.Lam - Guides of keeping your computer alive.

Summary: In this first guide I will first point out the obvious factor that's dragging down your computer's performances - the junk. I think this guide is especially important for those who own his or her PC laptops and desktops for more than 2 years. Most people don't realize that the internal of their computers are filled with performance dragging slugs. Without those junks your computer can perform at its optimal state and can increase processing speed for up to 30%*

*(Actual result may vary, author aggregated his claim solely base on his maintenance on four laptops of possibly different brand, make and period without cleaning internal case. Thus the data do not qualify for formal statistical analysis and should not be considered as a factual evidence. Those models are Acer Aspire 5100 (~3 Years), Dell XPS 410 (~2 Years 6 Months), Dell Inspirion 15 (~2 Years 3 Months) and COMPAQ Presario 3000 Laptop (~4 Years).

Article

Most people don’t realize computers are part of your household “Appliances” and like all others in your home, it too collects dust. In fact it collect dust a lot faster because almost all computer has a fan that cools the computer itself. So essentially the fan acts as an active vacuum sucking up the dust in the air. Imagine 2 years or more worth of junk inside your computer! To demonstrate this horrific I have a picture of one of my friends’ laptop Acer Aspire 5100 that she had for 3 years without maintenance below:

How awful!

As I took apart the computer and then the fan…you see how clogged-up it is (at the right). The heat exhaust is completely blocked by filaments of dust! That’s the reason why her laptop will get very hot after couple of minutes and becomes very slow as time progresses. The dust on the fan is another story…

Question Time:

Beside that disgusting look, why does all that slow down my computer?

Computer’s CPU needs a way to cool itself because it radiates heat as it processes your computing instructions. It cools itself by having a heat sink connected to a piece of metal, and rely on a fan to blow cool air onto the metal from outside.When the computer is new the heat sink and fan are new, so the computer operates at optimal speed. But as time goes on, the computer’s fan collects excessive amount of dust and debris, and all the junk builds up in-between the metal sheets in the heatsink (The reason why there are many tiny sheets of metals is to have the maximum area exposed for maximum cooling). With all the build-ups the CPU can’t function at it optimal level because the heat is not exhausted efficiently, so your computer will become slower, and for laptops you will feel the heat actually radiates to the back/bottom of your laptop, make your laptop not longer suitable as a “Lap-top”.

Knowledge Tip: Every CPU on the market are engineered not to fail, and one of the safe-fail mechanism is to have an on-board temperature sensors that would decide how fast the CPU should run (So your computer wouldn’t burst into flames). If the internal case of a computer is getting too hot the CPU automatically slows down its clock rates (measured in GHz or MHz) and even Bluescreen of Death shows up because the CPU shut itself down.

Solution:

Very straightforward, just clean the junk out using semi-wet cloth / paper tissue. Some Computer repair shop charges you around $25 ~$75 just for servicing your PC. I prefer DIY so to clean-out the junk, get your screwdriver and get ready to take apart your computer. Most laptops and desktop built in the past 2 or 3 years are very easy to take apart for maintenance

Important! Before you take apart your computer, If your computer is still under warranty (let say a 3-years warranty), contact the respective maker and find out more if opening up your computer would void the warranty.

Have a Desktop? Well it should be easy, follow the steps:

(A laptop is similar but it is more complicated in some cases, more screws generally)

1. First you need to ground yourself and drain your static electricity out of your body, you can do so by touching the metal part of your computer case and should avoid taking apart your computer on a carpet.

2. Take out all Power, USB, or any other wired connections from your desktop’s back, not internals

3. Use your common sense to open up your computer’s case using a screwdriver, most desktop don’t have screws instead they have a lock, just pull that and your case will be out.

In case you forget how to re-assemble your desktop, use a digital camera to take multiple-pictures of the internal connections for later reference.

4. Locate and plug out the fan(s) in your Desktop and the fan’s power source, the cord is connected to the motherboard and it should have an adapter that looks like the one on the right (With four wires attached to it)

5. The heat sink should be the metallic part that sticks high up from the motherboard’s perspective, proceed to take it off the CPU. If you haven’t done this in 2 or more years the fan and the heat sink should look very disgusting.

6. Once the fan(s) and the heat sink(s) are out take them to a sink and rinse them thoroughly and dry them.(Caution! Do Not whip-out the gel-like substance at the bottom of your heat sink, they are part of the cooling system, its meant for the CPU’s heat to melt it first)

7.Leave them for about 2 hours or blow-dry it. Make sure they are completely dry before you put them back. Reconnect all the power and connections and boot-up. See the speed & temperature difference.

How often should I clean out my heat sinks and fans?

In order for your computer to perform at the optimal level, I recommend rinsing out the heat sink and fans every 2 to 3 months. And I also recommend every time your vacuum your carpet that you stick the vacuum hose into the air-intake to clean some of the stuff out.

Summary:

Hope this can improve the of your computer perfomance, if it looks disgusting when you took your computer apart, I assure your computer will be cooler, faster & quieter once you clean all the stuff out.